Teach your kid to tie their own shoelaces with this trick

The “Cheerio” method works if your kids are having trouble with their laces

Teaching your kids how to tie their own shoes can be a stressful affair, especially if your younger ones are still developing their hand-eye coordination. For years, many have tried to find new ways on how to teach a kid to tie their shoes.

While Velcro shoes are a lifesaver, there comes a time when your kids have to be independent and start tying their own shoelaces. Velcro shoes rarely come in adult sizes, anyway.

Teaching your children to tie their own shoes is an essential life skill | Source: Pexels

If you’re having trouble teaching your kids how to tie their shoes, here’s a new technique that makes life easier not only for them, but for you, too. And no, we’re not talking about sitting them in front of YouTube for the whole day either.

How to teach a kid to tie their shoes using the Cheerio method

Step 1: Cross one shoelace over the other and tighten, like you would normally do when you start to tie shoelaces. Step 2: Instead of making two loops like the “bunny-ear” method, make a knot instead. Don’t tighten it all the way. This leaves a small gap that sort of looks like a Cheerio cereal (hence the name). Step 3: Poke the ends of the shoelaces through the hole, one at a time. Pull the resulting “bunny ears” loops at the end to finish. Congratulations!

It might be hard to visualise what we mean from text alone, so here’s a video from UnstoppableMother to show step-by-step what your child needs to do.

Take note: The shoelaces should be long to pull this manoeuvre. Though because of that, the resulting loops might also be too long and your children might slip on them. You may need to teach your child how to double-knot to shorten the loops.

While this “Cheerio” technique takes much longer than your average shoe-tying methods, notice how you don’t need to use both hands at the same time. This means your little one who’s still developing his or her hand-eye coordination will find it easier to tie their own shoes, “Cheerio” style.

When they get older they can adapt to conventional shoe-tying techniques | Source: Pexels

Mums, what shoe-tying technique did you use to teach your children? Share with us your secret hacks!